Toronto Maple Leafs Week 6 News and Notes, Stats and Quotes

MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 10: Jesperi Kotkaniemi #15 and goaltender Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens react as Ilya Mikheyev #65 of the Toronto Maple Leafs  (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images).

Game of the week:  5-3 win vs the Canadiens

The Toronto Maple Leafs were outplayed at 5v5 in this game, but brilliant performances by Andersen and Matthews, plus three power play goals, basically stole two points in enemy territory.  The power play has been absolutely lethal, and with Andersen performing well, it’s a an easy recipe for success in the regular season.  This has kept the Leafs rolling through injuries and is exactly what the team needs right now.

I should briefly mention the disallowed goal.  This was similar to the goal that Thornton scored against Ottawa where he pushed Murray’s pad in the net.  That goal was rightfully disallowed and so was this one.  The puck was under Andersen’s pad and Kotkaniemi’s stick clearly pushed the pad as the puck crossed the goal line.  We can argue whether or not we think this “should” be a goal, but the rules clearly state that is isn’t, you cannot push the goalie into the net.  If you want that to be a goal, change the rule.  The refs got the call right in both cases.

Along with the win, there was a very dramatic turn of events in the 3rd period that Leafs nation is bound to go crazy over.  William Nylander was benched late in this game for not matching the teams defensive effort in the 3rd period.  What?!  Benched?  Kudos to Keefe.  Keefe has raised the bar for this team in terms of effort and accountability, so yeah, a guy got benched.  I thought it was great.  Nylander will be fine.  The smoke will clear.  There is no fire.

Now to my favorite part of the game.  The hit (and possible elbow) that Muzzin threw on Anderson.  Josh Anderson was on a mission in this game.  He had 9 hits and was flying around the rink with reckless abandon, the guy looked like superman.  And then…at 16:05 of the 3rd period…Muzzin crushes him.

Anderson was upset and wanted to fight Muzzin, thankfully Muzzin declined the invite, and I screamed at the TV…”YES!! They pushed back!”.  Both guys went to the box, but the Leafs had some fight in them, and to me, that was the most important part of the entire game.  No Simmonds?  No problem.  We have Muzzin.

I know the Leafs have to improve their 5v5 play if they want to have playoff success, but getting wins with a depleted lineup is the most important stat right now.  They deserve credit for doing what they need to do in order to keep the wins coming.

Player of the week:  Austin Matthews

This is probably the easiest choice I’ll ever have to make for player of the week.

The two goals that Matthews scored in Montreal brought his season total to 18 goals in 18 games.  I’m not sure what else I’m supposed to write after typing that sentence, but I’ll give it a go anyway.  In five games during this two week stretch, Matthews had 7 goals and 6 assists.  His production is absolutely bonkers.

Marner has been great, without a doubt, but Matthews is scoring goals at a rate not seen since the early 90’s.  The last time a player scored goals at a rate that was even close to this was Pavel Bure in 1999-2000 and Alex Ovechkin in 2007-2008.  Both of them scored at a rate of .78-.79 goals per game.  Matthews is currently destroying that rate.

Matthews also plays center against top competition every night, and his 200 ft game is dominating other teams.  He’s carrying this team right now.  The guy is forcing his name into the conversation for the Hart and he may even be the leading candidate due to the success the Leafs are having as a team.

No Leaf in history has been able to score the way he does.  We are watching the evolution of what could end up being the greatest Leaf of all time.  Please enjoy this.

Injury Update

Frederik Andersen, lower body, DTD

Joe Thornton, undisclosed, DTD

Jake Muzzin, facial fracture, DTD (waiting for an update, will play with a face shield upon return).

Jack Campbell, leg, IR (he is scheduled to start tonight).

Wayne Simmonds, fractured wrist, IR (injured 02-05, timeline 6 weeks).

Rasmus Sandin, fractured foot, will be re-evaluated in mid-march

Hyman returned on Wednesday and played 21 minutes.  He had protective gear on his foot.

Matthews is currently playing with an injured wrist and wasn’t able to take face-offs in the second half of the Calgary game on Wednesday.  He’s been playing with this for much of the season.

News and Notes

We just celebrated the 1 year anniversary of the Carolina debacle, or what is now going to be known as…whatever title Disney gives it.  That’s right, Disney is apparently going to make a movie out of the David Ayres rise to fame as the emergency goaltender that defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs on 02-22-2020.

I watched that game in it’s entirety.  It was easily one of the worst games I have ever watched.  Ever.  Looking back to that fateful night, I would have gladly sat in for a tooth extraction if it meant that I missed an opportunity to watch the game.  The pain medication would have helped while watching the highlights too, as I’m sure I would have thought that I was hallucinating.

All of that aside, I’m glad that they are doing this, and I’m especially happy for David Ayres.  From everything that I’ve read, he’s just a good guy, and I cheer when good things happen to good people.  Looking back now, a year later, I view that game with a different perspective.

I’m glad it happened.  Not only for David, but because that game probably solidified the fact that Kyle Dubas was not going to spend any assets to try and improve that team.  That ended up being a smart move in my books.  The team needed to go through that embarrassment and come out the other side, better for it.

The Toronto Maple Leafs now sit in first place with a team that plays with more effort and more discipline, and an unlikely hero in David Aryes is to thank for the role he played in that evolution.  I hope the movie is a success, and I hope it’s not too painful to watch for Leaf fans.

Should the Leafs extend Morgan Rielly?  He has one more year after this one at 5 million per year.  This is obviously a topic that deserves it’s own article but I’ve been considering this for some time so I figured I would ask the question.

Morgan Rielly is a heart and soul player, and he’s the longest tenured Leaf on the roster, but I’m starting to wonder if the overall contribution he gives is going to be worth an extension in the 7-8 million dollar range.  Rielly has long been my favorite Leaf, since he was drafted, and part of me would like to see him retire in the blue and white.

Then again, Muzzin will still be under contract, and young players like Dermott (if he’s still here), Sandin, and Lehtonen, will all be cheaper options at left D and vying for playing time.  Keeping Rielly will require Dubas to move money out and I’m not sure the team gets better by giving away a contract of good value in order to keep him.

Luckily, we don’t have to think about it for another year because there’s no way Dubas does anything like that with this current group.

Stat of the week

7 points in his last 7 games, and 0 penalties in his last 8 games?

Alex Kerfoot.  The guy that plays center, plays wing, plays the PK, plays the PP, plays in the top 6, plays in the bottom 6, and basically just does whatever Keefe needs him to do.  He’s also one of the best fore-checkers we have, he’s fast, and he’s pretty good at breaking the puck out of the defensive zone.

Did I miss anything?  Oh yeah, he makes epic faces when Spezza does cool stuff (I couldn’t find a pic of it so I hope you saw it live…it was great).  You can catch a glimpse of it in the video here after Spezza sets up Kerfoot for the tap in, it’s around the 5:30 mark.

Every team needs players like Kerfoot.  Players that are really versatile, stay healthy, and just do whatever they are asked to do.  This is a very underrated part of a successful team.

The guy has taken a lot of criticism this year, and last year as well, and I think he just needed some time to settle in with this team.  So I just wanted to use this section to pump Kerfoot’s tires a little bit.  He’s earned it.  This is the player that Dubas thought he was trading for.

Player Quotes

After the Montreal game, Kerfoot was asked to compare his start this year with his start last year;

“It was my first time being traded and you never really know how much of an adjustment that is until you go through it.  This year I feel a lot more comfortable with the guys, with the organization, and obviously our team’s having a lot of success and that helps out.  I feel good on the ice right now playing in different spots.”

This really highlights what I was talking about with his increased production and better overall play.  He may have just needed some time to settle in and now we’re seeing the guy that I think Dubas saw all along.  Patience pays off.

Keefe after the Montreal game on Wednesday, he was asked about the team’s response after a wild 2nd period;

“I thought we just settled the game down.  I didn’t like the chaos that was the 2nd period, once we’ve got our lead we’ve got to do a better job with that, but in the 3rd period we were really good in that regard.  We just kinda sucked the life out of the game, which is what you want to do when you’ve got a lead against a team like this, especially a fresh team that we knew was going to have lots of legs in the 3rd period.”

This type of quote from the coach is so different than what Leaf fans are used to hearing after a game like this.  The blown lead against the Senators in that 6-5 loss aside, this team has played with the lead often, and they’ve shut things down consistently.  It’s really nice to have a team that can have a good 3rd period and put a game away.  A 1st place team does that.

Since I’ve mentioned Rielly and his contract, it’s fitting to share his sense of humor.  During the morning skate presser on 2-20, Rielly was getting up to leave as it appeared that there weren’t any more questions, when Mark Masters kind of came in a few seconds late;

Rielly rolled his eyes and mouthed “Oh man…”.  When Mark was introduced, Rielly said “Mark…of course”, and then he smiled and everybody in the zoom call knew he was joking around.

It was a pretty funny moment.  This is something not a lot of people talk about, but Morgan Rielly is truly one of the game’s best interviews, and having a guy like that on your team is great for the fans and the media alike.

Spezza on Hyman, during on pre game presser on 2-18;

“Hyms is one of the most important players on our team.  He’s an engine for us.  He brings a lot in terms of as a person with his leadership and also with his play and how hard he works.  He brings a different element for us.”

I couldn’t have said it any better.  This is just a different team with Hyman in the lineup, a much tougher team to play against, and he just adds a lot of juice to any line he plays on.  Which begs the question, what’s his next contract going to look like?

Until next week,

Keep your sticks on the ice.